Mind Boggling Admiration
by Sakura Moon
Summary: There was something about that freshman squirt.' Yuushi thought as he observed Ryoma. Story for the Subrosa Tennis Challenge Round 4.


**MIND-BOGGLING ADMIRATION**

There was no doubt about it. Oshitari Yuushi noted as he gazed the 'Prince' of tennis.

Echizen Ryoma. He was an enigma. Seeing him battled against Hiyoshi in the District game, Yuushi knew from that moment, this Seigaku brat had captured him.

He had asked Hiyoshi what it was like playing against a freshman rookie. Yuushi was only rewarded with, "He's no rookie. That I guaranteed. Playing against him was…mind-boggling."

"Mind-boggling?" Yuushi asked, confused as to how it was mind-boggling for Hiyoshi.

Hiyoshi nodded. "There is no other way to describe it, but once you play against him, there's something."

Yuushi was still confused by the end of the day, but he passed it off as mind tricks. Maybe he was seeing things when he watched Hiyoshi's match against Echizen.

The second time Yuushi saw Echizen was at the training camp. Yuushi was with the other Hyotei regulars at their own training camp—courtesy of Atobe—when Atobe told them that they would be helping out the Seigaku regulars with their training in preparation for their match against Rikkai Dai. After they had gotten off the bus and Atobe started speaking with them, Yuushi let his sight on the shortest regular. 'He's not that bad looking. In fact, he could probably pass off as a girl and be the uke in a homosexual relationship.' It was not until a frog, which had appeared out of nowhere, jumped right in front of his team that broke his concentration on Echizen. Yuushi was slightly embarrassed at his reaction and his team members' when that happened. Even without looking at Echizen, Yuushi felt the smirk emitting from the freshman.

Both teams stood in line, facing each other as they waited to see who will be his opponent. Yuushi hoped that he would play against Echizen. Instead he got Seigaku's tensai. 'He may not be Echizen, but I am rather curious to see which one is the better prodigy.' Yuushi smirked.

After his defeat against Fuji, Yuushi had to give props to him. Shaking his hand, Yuushi congratulated him. "I see you knew the weakness to your own signature move."

Fuji smiled. "Ah, a little cat helped me realized it."

Confused and curious about the cat reference, Yuushi turned his attention to the last set of matches. He noted that he was there, taunting Atobe. 'There's no way Atobe will back out now…especially after that coward comment from him.'

"6-6! Tie Score!" Oishi's voice rippled through the amazed crowd.

Yuushi only stared. "No way…" A part of him was astonished to see Atobe being pushed back a bit while the other half intrigued by the potential Ryoma exerted. 'He's unbelievable. But…why am I getting this feeling that I want to play against him. To see how far he or I will go.' Yuushi found himself unsettled.

"Man that was really anticipating!" One of the Seigaku lackeys cried out-loud.

"I know! For a moment I thought Ryoma would loose."

Right after that comment was said, a feisty scary brunet shrieked in front of the boy with a unibrow. "How dare you say that Ryoma-sama would loose! My Ryoma never looses!"

Yuushi raised an eyebrow at that part. 'Your's?' He glanced at Ryoma, who did not look too pleased at the score. 'Your fangirls…they're worst than Atobe's.'

It was time for Hyotei to go back to their respective training camp. As the teams bid farewell to each other with gratitude coming from the Seigaku's team, Yuushi stared at Ryoma. It was a lucky coincidence that Ryoma was standing right in front of him; otherwise, someone might take notice if his stare lingered on Ryoma a bit longer than the standard. Yuushi's hand clenched against Ryoma's as Yuushi allowed himself to embrace the small warmth that was coming out of his skin.

"Hopefully we'll meet again soon Echizen."

Ryoma only raised an eyebrow at that. He was at the least, not really impressed with Yuushi. From what Ryoma seen from Yuushi's match against Fuji, there was no motivation for Ryoma to play against him. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Yuushi continued speaking to him.

"I hope that we'll play someday."

Ryoma frowned as he lowered his cap and looked to the side. "Ceh."

'Rude brat.' Was all that Yuushi could think off when Gakuto pushed him inside the transport bus.

That night Yuushi sneaked over to Seigaku's training camp. He was hoping to catch Echizen somewhere around the area. Instead what Yuushi got was Echizen and his seniors in one of the lighted tennis courts. 'They're really determined to win the game.'

Yuushi quietly and quickly left before one of the members noticed his presence. From what he heard, there are some quite perceptive players on the team. One of them was Inui. His final thought for the night was. 'I'll make you see me.'

* * *

AN: Crack pairing. I wanted to do this but man, I had no idea how difficult it would write with this type of pairing TT. Written for the Subrosa Tennis Round 4 challenge. Oh and I haven't edited this story and I probably will never will since this was a spur of a moment type of thing.


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